This invention relates to a shift lever mechanism for translating axial movement of the plunger of a starter or cranking motor solenoid into shiftable movement of a pinion that is adapted to be meshed with the ring gear of an engine to be cranked.
The United States patent to Colvin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,010, discloses a shift lever mechanism that has a support or retainer that is adapted to be secured to housing parts of an engine starter. The retainer has a pair of axially extending spaced arms each of which has a circular hole. The retainer pivotally supports a shift lever which has two circular bosses that are respectively located in the circular holes formed in the arms of the retainer.
A problem associated with the shift lever mechanism of the type disclosed in the above-referenced Colvin et al. patent is that it is possible to assemble the shift lever to the retainer such that the shift lever ends up in an orientation or position that is reversed or backwards from the position that it should be in. To further explain this, let it be assumed that for proper orientation of the shift lever relative to the retainer, that a first boss on the shift lever should fit into a first hole in one arm of the retainer and that a second boas on the shift lever should fit into a second hole in the other arm of the retainer. Since the bosses on the shift lever are the same size and the holes in the arms of the retainer are the same size, it can be appreciated that the shift lever can be assembled such that the first boss is inserted into the second hole and the second boss is inserted into the first hole with the result that the shift lever would be assembled backwards or reversed from the position it should be in. Such a backward or reversed assembly of the shift lever to the retainer results in producing a shift lever assembly that cannot be use.